first glance Archives - Vignettes for the Romantic Soul

Multicolored lights flashed and reflected around the club as the partygoers on the packed dance floor bounced along to the beat. Ellie stood high above it all on the balcony, watching the frenzied mass of flaunting and flirting, bored.

She should have stayed home. Joe demanding that she come listen to his new stuff shouldn’t have been a good enough reason. They weren’t even dating anymore.

Arms folded, she glared at where Joe was standing at the DJ booth. This was the last night she was dragging herself out to be supportive of her tyrant ex. There was a reason they had broken up, that she had ended things with him.

No more being a walked on pushover. She recited it over and over in her head. During the past year the high balcony had become a refuge of sorts whenever Joe had insisted on her coming to watch him DJ. The club scene wasn’t really one she was all that comfortable with and never had been. For Ellie, that balcony was a gift. She was there without being down in the trenches. Instead she had a bird’s eye view of the whole club where no one would notice her watching. After an hour of sitting on the sidelines, alone and tired, she didn’t see the point of staying any longer. Usually Marci would come up to keep her company when she would get tired of dancing but she’d had to stay home tonight.

Enough was enough. She turned to head down the stairs when a ripple in the crowd caught her eye. Looking closer, she saw it again. People were moving out of the way for someone. A celebrity?

As she leaned on the rail to get a better look the crowd parted once again and she glimpsed a man with a natural bronzed tan striding confidently through the dancers to one of the small standing tables on the edge of the floor. If he knew people were parting to move out of his way, he didn’t show it. Maybe he was famous, but she didn’t recognize him.

The man had changed the entire atmosphere of the club simply by walking in. He didn’t look dangerous, but he definitely had a ‘back off’ kind of vibe. Why go to a club if you weren’t in the mood to be around people? Oh wait, she was there and definitely was not interested in descending into that mass of people except to leave.

Glancing over to where Joe still stood in front of the crowd on his self-proclaimed throne, she could see him sending glares over at the mystery guest. With him there, Joe couldn’t pretend to be the coolest in the room.

As Ellie blatantly stared at the new arrival, safe in her assumption of being invisible in the high balcony, she noticed him looking about intently, as if he were looking for someone. It wasn’t a frantic sort of looking around, more like he was searching for someone he knew. She too started to look around to see if she could spot who he could be looking for. She laughed. How could she find someone if she didn’t even know who he was looking for?

His sharp gaze pierced through the crowd as he continued his intense search. Who was he looking for? Ellie continued to survey the crowd too, glancing back at him every few seconds to see if he was still looking about. No longer interested in the other club-goers or in leaving, her full attention was on him.

Her mystery man gave off this aura of strength that was almost comforting. Or it would be if they were friends. It wasn’t in his build but more in the way he held himself. The more she took in his appearance the more Ellie found herself wanting to be down there, introducing herself.

Very unlike her.

Again she slowly took in his overall look, from his patent leather shoes to the intensity of his dreamy face. He had money but was not flaunting it. If she had to hazard a guess she would say that he was comfortable in his life and wasn’t looking to prove to others how much he made in order to make fake money-worshipping friends.

In the midst of her almost lazy perusal, shock zapped through her as she discovered those eyes looking straight up at her. He wasn’t glaring per se but he was definitely looking right at her. It was more like he was trying to ask her a question she didn’t know the answer to. As he smiled up at her she stepped back and out of sight. She struggled to keep her panic tamped down. He had caught her openly staring at him for who knows how long. It took several minutes to talk herself into moving back to the railing.

When she finally did she discovered that he was gone. A completely different sort of panic flooded through her. Searching the crowd, there was no ripple. Nothing to give her any hint of where he could have gone. She quickly gathered her things.

Jacket and purse in hand, she moved to the stairs. Before she could make her way down she had to pull back to stop from slamming into the guy leaning in the doorway, his coal black hair swept casually across his forehead. He was blocking her exit and, by the gleam in his eye, he knew it.

“Nice hideout.” He chuckled, uncrossing his arms and stepping toward her. He neatly backed her up to the rail overlooking the dance floor. A few good feet remained between them. After a few moments of silent, surprisingly non-awkward staring he chuckled again and moved to lean on the rail next to her. He glanced down at the dance floor below before he turned his full attention back on her. She felt transparent.

All those gorgeously sculpted muscles in easy touching distance caused Ellie to struggle to smother her gasp. Standing perfectly still, she waited. All her brain could process was how close he was.

He stepped back enough that she felt she could breathe. He flashed her a megawatt smile. “Come here much?”

“Attention.” The tall woman in front of them stood up. Alexandra didn’t want to go anywhere near her, but as the rest of the girls moved forward, she was jostled forward with them. On the other side of the room the group of boys did the same. The woman continued, “As you know, this is the day when you are informed of who your life-mate will be. This is a courtesy as well as a ceremonial initiation into your training. After tonight you will not see your life-mate again until you turn 20, roughly 5 years from now, to perform the official life-mating ceremony.” She pulled out her list of names.

Alexandra stared over at the boys. She was going to be stuck with one of them for the rest of her life because their names were listed next to each other on a paper. True love in the making. Ha.

“Alexandra Royen. Brandon Sauer.” With a brief pause to allow the two of them to step forward and move across from each other, the woman continued on.

Alexandra stared over at the pudgy boy to whom she was now stuck. She was going to have to be top of her class in order to make up for whatever deficits this boy brought to the table.

With great reluctance she extended her hand, her mother’s sharp tone echoing around her head. ‘Manners matter most.’

The boy hesitated before taking her hand in a surprisingly firm grip. “You are beautiful.” His gaze was direct and he didn’t smile at her like he was teasing. Surprised, she gaped at him for several seconds.

Glancing down the newly formed line, Alexandra realized that most of the other boys and girls were talking to each other. One couple was already kissing.

Looking back at her future life-mate she laughed. “Thank you. It is a pleasure to meet you.” The boy blushed. She hastily corrected herself mentally; his name was Brandon, not boy. Belatedly she added, “Brandon.”

“Alexandra, I’ll make you proud of me next time you see me.” He stood taller and smiled with a confidence she wasn’t feeling.

After only a few minutes, they were separated once again and led off into different buildings where they would be spending the next 5 years learning, near but apart. Someone higher up had decided years ago that by separating the boys and the girls as they entered their young adult years would allow society to help mold them into what was needed in the community.

For years Alexandra had heard her parents talk about their own life-mate ceremony with fondness. She had always been skeptical. Now, having met her own future life-mate she was even more skeptical. They said that each young person had been assiduously observed so that the pairings would be successfully matched, but how did that make Alexandra, who couldn’t stand being still for long, the suitable life-mate of a boy who looked as though he didn’t move from his couch most days.

For Alexandra, those five years of training held little meaning, mindless academia that required little effort on her part. She excelled in most every subject and was top of her class. Early on her advisors informed her that she had an aptitude for finance, so her training started immediately.

However they weren’t allowed to leave the designated outdoor recreational area, so she couldn’t go hiking as she had always done with her family. The treadmill in the small indoor gym became her escape from the stress. In her spare moments she would bring to mind that pudgy boy whom she had spoken to so briefly and wonder how they were ever going to get along. She studied and worked hard instead of dwelling on it. She tried to ignore the other girls when they would start to fantasize with each other about their futures. Alexandra was determined to make her own future.

When the day came for the life-mating ceremony Alexandra shivered in the cool breeze. Headmistress Crent had insisted that each of the girls appear in dresses. Alexandra only had one dress and it was not suited for the cooler air breezing about. Miffed and irritated, she fought to keep her bad mood from showing. She didn’t want the boy, Brandon, to think she was mad at him. That wouldn’t be a great way to start anything.

From where she stood on the cool grass she watched as men strode out of the other building to greet them. Her mind had to completely switch gears. These were no longer young, untried boys. In fact, some of them were very attractive men. She didn’t hold onto any hope that one of the attractive ones would be hers, after all, she had seen him all those years ago. And exercise was not a requirement of their studies.

Watching impartially as the other girls found their life-mates once again, Alexandra tried to not stare. Looking over the group she didn’t see anyone that looked like the boy she’d met so briefly all those years before. When no one stepped up to her and all the other pairings were complete Alexandra began to panic. What would happen if he wasn’t there? Was she destined to a life alone?

One of the other men with his arm around his life-mate, Karen, stepped closer and whispered, “He’s coming. You have yourself a very ambitious man, always something to prove.”

She had just enough time to breathe a sigh of relief when the door to the men’s building burst open with a bang and a tall athletic mountain of a man came running out. His brisk jog over to the group made sure everyone saw his entrance. He didn’t seem to care, his eyes locked firmly on Alexandra.

This wasn’t the out-of-shape boy she had met years ago. This man was seriously physically fit, and gorgeous. Alexandra had to focus on her breathing.

When he was less than a foot away from her he slowed just enough to scoop her up and twirl her around, happily laughing.

“Alexandra!” His new bass voice rumbled as he gripped her close.

“Brandon?” She still hesitated, not able to bring together this man with her memory of him. All thoughts disappeared as he kissed her, allowing the momentum of their spin to slow as she melted into him.

With a sigh, she no longer wondered if she would be physically compatible with her life-mate. There was no doubt she would. And now, the idea of getting the time and chance to discover the rest of the man in front of her seemed intriguing. What had made them compatible?